Notice how the state column in the third page takes pride in its community collectiveness?
Notice how often the public comes forth to better the place we live in?
How often do we sit and think about wanting to fix the potholes or to have street lights above our heads just so we can see the pavements we’re walking on? Is it too much to ask for?
In a state so rich in almost everything, noticeably ‘Brotherhood’ and ‘Community’- it feels like these beautiful traits are the primary perceptive sensory experiences any tourist latches onto when they hear the name ‘NAGALAND’ which actually isn’t bad. But are we doing a little too much? To the point where we have leveraged the label of ‘COMMUNITY’ so heavily that now sits at the top being our first identity.
This would have been the most beautiful and most humane label any society could built as a form of a state identity. But it’s only beautiful when the community doesn’t feel the need to step in to execute the basic infrastructure needs that the government should be providing.
The installation of solar street lights. Launching medical vans only when calamities hits. Patching up roads with limited personal resources-all by the initiation and goodness of the people themselves. Somehow, we have all become fiercely independent from the government. We are eating up our demands and taking independent actions because the higher ups are busy dreaming a bigger picture all in their heads.
If we never had stepped in, would the street lights be in sight? Would they be taking care of these basic amenities like we are now?
Now, the baseline of this systemic neglect could be us. We are immensely contributing to fix everything. We must praise this people and organizations, their goodness is the only thing that’s keeping our dark streets lit. But looking after our community’s comfort might as well become a 9/5 job in the near future if systemic neglect continues.
Recently, I saw a social media post, where a non-local had used the term ‘cute’ to describe our Dimapur airport. It must have been an amusing observation, given how a normal airport should look like. But only we know how embarrassing it is, especially when you get hit by interrogations such as “Does your airport only have one luggage belt?” by a non-local while you wait sweating for your baggage to make it in the first belt round.
This is the same Nagaland where, splashed across the pages of our newspapers, we find acknowledgements of newly installed light bulbs. When did having a basic street lights become a luxury so rare that it literally demands a dedicated space for public celebration in the press? By turning bare minimum survival infrastructure into newsworthy milestone, it reveals how deeply we have let the authorities off the hook. We are clapping so loudly for our own self reliance that the quiet, total absence of governance gets completely drowned out in the applause. True community cohesion shouldn’t mean doing the states job for them while they absorb our resources. It should mean holding them accountable to higher standard.
It is time to stop letting “luxury acknowledgement” distract us from asking why the baseline was missing in the first place. Maybe it was because we always showed up-in the name of community and the state we love.
Ivy Jungi
5th sem,
English Dept, DU
Wednesday, August 12, 2026